Air conditioning system for rail vehicles



March 3, 1942. o WILLIAMS 2,275,120

AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR RAIL VEHICLES Filed June 30, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. HA/P674 MAL/6W5 'ATTORNEY.

March 3, 1942. A. o. WILLIAMS AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR RAIL VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 33 5 INVENTOR.

Filed June 30, 1938 a, if.

urea-0d M44 01/75, BY ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 3, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT v OFFICE AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR RAIL VEHICLES Application June 30, 1938, Serial No. 216,673

12 Claims.

This invention relates to air conditioning systems, and more particularly is directed to an air conditioning system for a rail vehicle or the like.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a system in which the interior of the car is maintained under a slight pressure to prevent infiltration of outside unconditioned air, and to provide a barrier for the entrance of such air when the doors are opened. in addition, by the (CI. esp-.10)

vided an outlet port controlled by a suitable damper which is connected for conjoint movement with the fresh air inlet damper in such manner that a predetermined amount of air will be admitted to the fresh air inlet regardless of the position of the dampers. In one extreme limiting position of the dampers, all of the air being drawn through the exhaust blower plus the quantity of fresh air necessary to make up use of a pressure system it is possible to keep out the deficiency between the blower capacities is dust and dirt to an appreciable extent due to the transmitted to the large blower with no air passfact that no air enters the car through window ing through the exhaust port. In the opposite i oropenings or the like. limiting position, the two dampers ovgrlap each 11 providing fora system of this type, one of other in such manner as to close off he re urn the main features is the employment of a pair f 1-5 air from the exhaust blower so that all of this blowers, one of which has a higher capacity than air passes through the outlet port, and entirely the other. Theblower with the larger capacity fresh air is taken into the lar e blower. In the is provided for forcing air into the car through intermediate positions of the dampers, the quansuitiblegrill rlrlieans located adjacent the seats tity of fresh air and return air is relatively proln e s1 e we s of the car or at the roof. The portioned, depending upon temperature condiblower of smaller capacity is employed for withtions desired within the car as compared with drawing air from the interior of the car and for outside-temperatures. forcing this air over suitable conditioning means Another feature of the present invention retoward the inlet of thelarger blower. It will thus sides in the pro is on 0f p t me ns formed in be apparent that more air is forced into the, car the structural part of the car forming inlets for than is exhausted therefrom, and consequently the conditioned air with additional port means mechanism is provided for makin up th d designed to provide for withdrawal of air from iicienc es by the use of a fresh air inlet, whi h within the car to the conditioning system. In a 18 controlled in such manner as to suppl the preferred form of the invention the construction delficientuanfioirnt oft air even under conditions J0 is so arranged that the fresh air is admitted adw ere a; o e re urn air drawn through the jacent the floor on one side of the car, and is exhaust blower is redirected toward the inlet withdrawn adjacent the upper part of the opblower. posite side of the car. However, this arrange- Another feature of the. present invention is the men s p a as it s also plated within utilization of the heat produced in the resistors the scope of the present invention to provide for of an electrically driven unit, as a means for admitting air to the car adjacent the floor on terlipermtghair tojrbintrodulced in {the Ear du'ing oppositg sidest lfiereoffagld withdrawing the air 00 wea er W; e emp oymen 0 he re urn rom a jacen e roo rough moni ors or tuair as a means for cooling these resistors during bular side frame members. hot weather with, thereturn air being then dis- Another feature of the present invention regga dfrzriiithe vehicle; and not again entering sides in the provision of a simplified air condi- 6 l 0011. 0 m; SY I ioned unit whi"h is easil assembled, which is Another feature of the present invention s h economic in design and mi ration, and which is proiglsian of ab ganslversely extending duct beeasily controlled by means of a single tempera- 231 g g g i ture responsive member. This, in connection obeningse at i gz 2 f i with the use of blowers of different capacities tered fresh air inlet for the air conditioning sys- Provides f novel .type g tem, which also is disposed beneath the car floor, momng sysnen} espclauy designed or e 66 nca this inlet entering the system at a point interoperated ran Vehlcles' mediate the two blowers and suitably controlled by means of a damper or the like whereby the amount of air admitted therethrough above a predetermined minimum is definitely regulated.

Intermediate the two blowers there is also pro- Other objects and advantages will appear more fully from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, will disclose to those skilled in the art the particular construction and operation of a preferred form of the present invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a perspective diagrammatic View showing the air conditioning system embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional View through a portion of the car body, substantially as indicated on line 2-2 of Figure 1, and showing the relative positions of the various parts of the air conditioning system; and

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of the mixing chamber and damper control mechanism.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in Figure 1 there is diagrammatically indicated a car body mounted on suitable sill members and 6 running longitudinally of the car beneath the floor thereof. The car wall is indicated generally at 1 and preferably comprises an inner and outer member spaced apart by suitable longitudinally extending spacers, as indicated at 8. Suitable insulation is provided between the two wall sections for preventing transmission of heat therethrough. The floor 9 preferably is also formed by means of two spaced floor portions spaced apart by the spacers ID.

As is indicated clearly in Figure 2, the side rails or beams 5 extend beneath the outer edges of the walls 1, and do not in any manner interfere with the opposite inlets I2 of the transversely extending duct member l3 which extends between the side rails 5 and 5 transversely of the car, and which is preferably filled with loosely packed filtering material such as indicated at M, which may be wire mesh, cloth screens, or any other suitable means that will remove minute particles of dirt and dust from the air. The duct I3 is provided intermediate its ends with a normally extending outlet opening l5 which opens into a longitudinally extending duct I6 communicating with the general air conditioning system indicated in its entirety by the numeral [1.

The air conditioning system indicated at H includes a chamber l8 which preferably encloses the resistor units diagrammatically shown at 2| associated with the electrical driving means of the vehicle. At one end the chamber i8 is provided with an extension I9 communicating with the outlet of a blower 23, which in turn has its inlet 22 connected to the longitudinally extending duct 23 which has the opposite end portions thereof communicating with the longitudinal ducts 24 extending along the side of the car on opposite sides of the door opening, which is indicated generally at 25. a

It is to be understood that the present air conditioning system is proposed for use in connection with electric rail vehicles, such as street cars, elevated trains and the like which are provided with door openings located centrally of the sides thereof, and it is contemplated that the present system will be installed below the floor of. the car substantially beneath the door openings.

The outlet of the chamber I3 is indicated at 26, and is disposed adjacent the fresh air outlet opening 21 of the duct I6. The openings 25 and 21 enter into a common passageway 25 connected to the inlet 29 of a second blower 30 which has a flexible outlet connection 32 to a duct 33 corresponding to the duct 23 and provided at opposite ends with communicating openings into the longitudinally extending ducts 34.

Each of the blowers 23 and 30 is preferably operated by an electric motor or in any other suitable manner, and the speeds are definitely controlled, the blower 20 preferably having the capacity of approximately 900 cubic feet per minute, while the blower 39 has a capacity of approximately 1200 cubic feet per minute. Any other relative ratios of capacities may be employed, depending upon the size of the car, the pressure desired therein, and the leakage factor of the car construction produced by window openings, door cracks and the like.

The fresh air outlet opening 21 into the passageway 28 is preferably controlled by a damper 35 which is hinged along one vertical edge to swing toward and away from the opening 21. The damper 35 preferably has a central aperture 36 so that even with the damper in closed position against the opening 21, a predetermined quantity of air will pass through the aperture 36 from the duct i6.

Directly opposite the opening 21 is an exhaust opening 31 formed in the common passageway 25 and controlled by an imperforate damper 3B which is hinged along a vertical edge opposite to the damper 35, and is adapted to swing toward and away from the opening 31 to control the amount of air exhausted therethrough.

The two dampers 35 and 33 are connected for conjoint movement by the link 46 which in turn, through the bell crank 42 is connected to a suitable temperature responsive mechanism 53 having the actuating arm M projecting therefrom. It will be apparent that as the damper 38 is swung open by the mechanism 53, the damper 35 will likewise be swung open, and in the open limiting position the dampers 35 and 38 overlap in such manner as to close the aperture 36 and to prevent any air from the chamber l8 entering the passageway 28. In this position therefore, the entire supply of air to the blower 30 is drawn through the transverse duct l3 and the duct I5, while the entire amount of air discharged into the chamber I8 is exhausted through the opening 31.

The ducts 34 are preferably provided with grilled openings 50 in the lateral inner walls thereof, which openings admit the air discharged by the blower 30 into the interior of the car. The walls 1 of the car preferably have windows formed therein between which are vertically extending tubular members as indicated at 52 in Figure 2, which may be provided with exhaust openings in the inner walls thereof whereby air may be withdrawn from the interior of the car therethrough down into the ducts 24.

As shown in Figure 1, the ends of the car are provided with two vertical supporting members 53 framing the door opening at the end of the car, and these members may be made hollow to provide additional exhaust air passageways communicating at their lower ends through the ducts 54 with the ducts 25. The corners of the car may also be provided with vertical tubular supporting members 55 communicating with the ducts 24 in a similar manner, or if desired, a roof monitor may be provided which communicates through any of the vertically extending tubular supporting members with the ducts 24 to return air from the interior of the car to the air conditioning system IT by means of the blower 20.

Of course, it is to be understood that any other suitable means for distributing the air in the interior of the car may be employed, but preferably the air distribution is in the manner described and disclosed herein.

In the operation of the system the blowers 2B and 33 are operated at full capacity, and the air from the interior. of the caris drawn into the duct. 23 as previously described, and hence. is forced by the blower 20 into the chamber l8. Within this chambe'r, the air is heated by passing over the resistance coils of the electrical driving mechanism and, assuming operation under cold weather conditions, this air is passed into the common passageway 28., the dampers 35 and 33 being closed. Inasmuch a the. blower 20 has only three-quarters of the capacity of the blower 30,. additional air must be admitted to the blower 30, and this air is supplied from the duct l3 through the duct f6 and the aperture 35-into the inlet 29 of the blower 30.

From the blower 3%! the air is discharged from the duct 33 and the longitudinal ducts 34 at the sides of the car out through the grills 50 into the interior of the car adjacent the feet of the passengers; The thermally responsive mechanism 43, as the car heats up, moves the arm 44 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1, thereby actuating the link 40 to open the dampers 35 and 38. This results in a portion of the heated air from the chamber l8 being passed to exhaust through the opening 31, while additional amounts of fresh air are admitted through the opening 21 to compensate for this loss of heated air. The mechanism 43 thus controls the temperature of the air within the car, and may be located at any convenient point for thispurpose.

During hot weather conditions when it is desired not to heat the air being forced into the car, the mechanism 43 operates to fully open the dampers 35 and 38 so that they lie in overlapping relationship, thereby closing. the passageway 28 to the chamber l8. As a result, the heated air in the chamber I8 is discharged entirely through the exhaust port 3'5, and all of the air forced into the car is admitted through the duct l6 and opening 21 to the blower 30. Under such conditions no heating of the air is produced and the entire amount of air circulated within the car is fresh air.

During temperature conditions intermediate the extremes described above, the dampers 35 and 38 will occupy intermediate positions, depending upon the amount of heated air necessary to maintain the desired temperature within the car.

It is therefore believed apparent that I have provided a simplified type of air conditioning system for use in rail cars of this type, which is easily controllable from a single actuating member, and which prevents any infiltration of air into the car during normal operation.

I am aware that various changes may be made in certain of the details shown and described herein, and I therefore do not intend to be limited except as defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An air conditioning system for an electrical- 1y driven vehicle having resistors beneath the floor of the vehicle, comprising a chamber enclosing said resistors, air withdrawing means communicating with the interior of the vehicle for exhausting air from said interior at a predetermined rate and forcing said air into said chamber, a fresh air supply duct beneath the vehicles having an outlet port communicating with said chamber, air input means communicating with the interior of the vehicle for drawing air from said chamber and from said fresh air supply duct and forcing it into said vehicle at a greater rate than it is exhausted. from the interior of said vehicle by said air withdrawing means, said fresh air supply duct having inlets at opposite sides of the vehicle, said outlet port from said supply duct communicating with said airinput means posterior to said chamber, and air regulating means for said outlet port controllable to supply sufiicient air to make up the difference in rate of said air input means and said exhaust means.

2. An air conditioning system for a car body having heating means below the floor thereof and havin longitudinal ducts at opposite sides of the car body, comprising a chamber enclosing said heating means, discharge means at one side of said chamber including a blower for Withdrawing air from one of said ducts and forcing it into said chamber, air input means at the opposite side of said chamber including a blower for withdrawing air from said chamber and forcing it under pressure into the other of said ducts, mean in said last-named duct for distributing saidair within the car body, port means providing for the exhausting of all of the air in said chamber to atmosphere, said input means having a greater capacity than said discharge means, and a transverse fresh air supply mean connected to said input means posterior to said chamber for admitting suffi-cient air thereto to make up the difference in capacity of said blowers, said fresh air supply means having suificient capacity to supply all the air required for said input means when said exhausting means is actuated.

3. An air conditioning system for a closed car body, having heating means therebeneath, said system comprising a chamber enclosing said heating means, exhaust means including a blower for Withdrawing air from said body and forcing it into said chamber, inlet means including a blower of greater capacity than said exhaust iower for forcing air from said chamber into said body to maintain the sameunder pressure, a fresh air supply duct connected to the inlet means between said chamber and said secondnamed blower, a controllable damper having means therein when in closed position for insuring a minimum supply of fresh air from said duct to maize up the difference in capacities of said blowers when all the air from said chamber is directed into said inlet means, a discharge port for said chamber having a damper, and means conjointly controlling said dampers responsive to temperatures within the car'for controlling the proportions of fresh and chamber air drawn by said inlet means into the car body.

4. In combination, a heating chamber, an exhaust port at one end thereof, a fresh air inlet port in alinement with said exhaust port, dampers for said ports, an outlet between said dampers, a blower connected to said outlet, one of said dampers having a fixed aperture therein, and

thermally responsive means for conjointly opening and closing said dampers, said dampers being so constructed and arranged that opening of said dampers discharges air from said chamber through said exhaust port and admits air from said fresh air inlet port into said outlet.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said inlet port damper has the fixed aperture so that at least some fresh air will be drawn into said outlet through said inlet port irrespective of the position of said damper.

6. The combination of claim 4 wherein said dampers are connected to swing open conjointly into overlapping relation to close off said chamber from said blower.

'7. Air conditioning means for a car body, comprising longitudinal ducts at the sides of the car body, vertical ducts in said body communicating at their lower end with one of said longitudinal ducts, and open to the interior of the car body thereabove, laterally directed outlet ports in the other longitudinal duct, means beneath the car body for withdrawing air from said first longitudinal duct at a predetermined rate, means beneath the car body for tempering said withdrawn air, means beneath the car body for forcing said tempered air into said other longitudinal duct at a rate greater than said predetermined rate, and means for supplying fresh air to said last-named means posterior to said tempering mean in an amount sufiicient to supply the deficiency caused by said difference in rates.

8. In a car body air conditioning system, means including a blower at one side ofsaid body for exhausting air from said body at a predetermined rate, means at the opposite side of said body for introducing air into the body at a greater rate than said exhausting means, electrically heated resistors beneath the body, a chamber enclosing said resistors and connected to said exhaust means for receiving air therefrom and cooling the resistors, an outlet duct connected between said chamber and said introducing means, a fresh air inlet duct connected to said outlet duct intermediate the ends thereof, a damper for said fresh air inlet duct pivoted to swing into a position partially blocking the outlet duct adjacent said chamber connection and anterior to the connection of said fresh air inlet duct, a Vent opening in said outlet duct alined With and opposite said fresh air inlet duct, a damper for aid vent opening pivoted to swing into a position anterior to said fresh air inlet duct to cooperate with said inlet damper to completely block said outlet duct anterior to said fresh air inlet duct connection and vent all the chamber air to atmosphere, and means connecting said dampers for conjoint movement.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said inlet damper is apertured to provide for passage of air into said outlet in a quantity sufficient to make up the deficiency caused by the said difierence in rates when said inlet damper and vent damper are both completely closed.

10. In an air conditioning system for a car body, a chamber beneath the car body enclosing electrically heated resistors, a blower connected to said chamber for forcing air withdrawn from said body into the chamber, an outlet duct connected to said chamber, a blower in said outlet duct and spaced from the'chamber for forcing air from the outlet duct into the car body, a fresh air supply duct alined ports in said outlet duct intermediate said chamber-and blower, one of said port constituting a vent to atmosphere and the other opening into said fresh air supply duct, interconnected dampers for said ports swingable into the outlet duct to block the same diagonally between the outlet blower side of the Vent port and the chamber side of said fresh air inlet port in such manner as to vent all air from the chamber to atmosphere and supply only fresh air from said fresh air supply duct through its port to said blower, whereby said chamber air acts only to cool said resistors, and means responsive to temperatures in said car body for moving said dampers from blocking position through intermediate positions to port closing positions whereby vary ing portions of the chamber air can be used for tempering the fresh air supplied to said outlet blower.

11. In a vehicle body air conditioning system, a heating chamber for receiving air from the interior of the body, a duct forming an outlet for said chamber, blower means for drawing air from said outlet duct and forcing it under pressure into said body, means defining a vent opening in said outlet duct, damper means controlling said ,vent opening and in one position closing said chamber to said blower means and opening it to atmosphere through said vent opening,

a a fresh air inlet duct connected to said outlet 

